That’s right – the last HSV ever built at the business’s Clayton factory was not a GTSR W1 or even a VF II ClubSport; it was a much rarer, one-of-one HSV Colorado SportsCat V8. And now it’s for sale, again.

After being auctioned off in late 2021, where it fetched a $205,000 winning bid with a 7.5% buyer’s premium (so $220,375 total), the prototype is now listed for sale again on Young Timers Garage, now asking $299,000 before fees.

This exact ute caused a big stir when it first did the rounds in the media in 2021. It was used as a test mule for HSV’s secret program of stuffing the then current-model Colorado with the 6.2-litre aspirated LT1 V8 that was used in the Chevy Camaro at the time.

In the Camaro, that LT1 pumped out 460hp (343kW); in the SportsCat V8, it was paired to a 10-speed auto and a transfer case said to have been nicked from a Silverado.

The one-of-one prototype is as close as we’d ever get to seeing a production-level version of the ute, and fittingly for the last car to wear an HSV build plate, it was adorned in the Panorama Silver originally used on the HSV VL Commodore SS Group A SV.

In 2021, then commercial director for the Walkinshaw Group, Chris Polites, confirmed the SportsCat V8’s status as the last true HSV: “This is the last car to be plated by HSV, the last car to carry an HSV badge, and the last HSV through our engineering centre,” he said.

“This is genuinely the last HSV-built car, and it was completed after the last of the GTSR W1s.” 

Unfortunately, while the ute was allegedly only months away from being a real deal to bring to market for HSV, the closing of Holden as a business in 2020 also meant the selling off of the manufacturing plant in Thailand where the Colorado and its Trailblazer SUV sibling were produced. 

Allegedly, HSV planned to have the SportsCat V8 fitted with the LT1 driveline in Thailand, and then shipped to the factory in Melbourne to have the final touches assembled, much like how the Commodore-based HSVs were built. That plant is now owned by Chinese vehicle manufacturer GWM.